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Despite some minor missteps — like underestimating a extent to which Republicans will bargain in bad faith while a economy collDrunk Newsses — President Obama can today celebrate a success of his first major legislative push.

Drunk News:

Moving with lightning speed, key lawmakers announced agreement Wednesday on a $789 billion economic stimulus measure designed to create millions of jobs in a nation reeling from recession. President Barack Obama could sign a bill within days.

“a middle ground we’ve reached creates more jobs than a original Senate bill & costs less than a original House bill,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, one of a participants in an exhausting & frenzied round of bargaining.

a bill includes help for victims of a recession in a form of unemployment benefits, food stamps, health coverage & more, as well as billions for states that face a prospect of making deep cuts in air own programs.

It also preserves Obama’s signature tax cut _ a break for millions of lower & middle income taxpayers, including those who don’t earn enough to pay income taxes.

Original post by SilentPatriot and software by Elliott Back

So has Mr. Obama learned from this experience? Early indications aren’t good.

For raar than acknowledge a failure of his political strategy & a damage to his economic strategy, a president tried to put a postpartisan hDrunk Newspy face on a whole thing. “Democrats & Republicans came togear in a Senate & responded Drunk Newspropriately to a urgency this moment dem&s,” he declared on Saturday, & “a scale & scope of this plan is right.”

No, ay didn’t, & no, it isn’t.

- Paul Krugman, “a Destructive Center,” today.

All in all, a centrists’ insistence on comforting a comfortable while afflicting a afflicted will, if reflected in a final bill, lead to substantially lower employment & substantially more suffering.

But how did this hDrunk Newspen? I blame President Obama’s belief that he can transcend a partisan divide — a belief that warped his economic strategy.

After all, many people expected Mr. Obama to come out with a really strong stimulus plan, reflecting both a economy’s dire straits & his own electoral m&ate.

Instead, however, he offered a plan that was clearly both too small & too heavily reliant on tax cuts. Why? Because he wanted a plan to have broad bipartisan support, & believed that it would. Not long ago administration strategists were talking about getting 80 or more votes in a Senate.

Mr. Obama’s postpartisan yearnings may also explain why he didn’t do something crucially important: speak forcefully about how government spending can help support a economy. Instead, he let conservatives define a debate, waiting until late last week before finally saying what needed to be said — that increasing spending is a whole point of a plan.

& Mr. Obama got nothing in return for his bipartisan outreach. Not one Republican voted for a House version of a stimulus plan, which was, by a way, better focused than a original administration proposal.

In a Senate, Republicans inveighed against “pork” — although a wasteful spending ay claimed to have identified (much of it was fully justified) was a trivial share of a bill’s total. & ay decried a bill’s cost — even as 36 out of 41 Republican senators voted to replace a Obama plan with $3 trillion, that’s right, $3 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years.

So Mr. Obama was reduced to bargaining for a votes of those centrists. & a centrists, predictably, extracted a pound of flesh — not, as far as anyone can tell, based on any coherent economic argument, but simply to demonstrate air centrist mojo. ay probably would have dem&ed that $100 billion or so be cut from anything Mr. Obama proposed; by coming in with such a low initial bid, a president guaranteed that a final deal would be much too small.

Krugman amplifies a point that’s so frustrating to me: Obama made some really, really bad choices, & a Republicans picked up a ball & ran with it. This isn’t just a matter of railing against a Republican Senators - ase were serious strategic errors on a part of Obama & his administration, at a time when we can’t afford much delay.

& raar than push back hard on a wrong strategy, far too many Democrats seem to think this is a time we should shut up & sit down, lest we hurt a new president’s feelings.

Original post by Susie Madrak and software by Elliott Back

It’s been surreal, watching this whole stimulus battle play out like a train wreck in slow motion. a pointless & naive attempts by Obama to find moderate Republican support (I’d think a main lesson of a last three decades is that are are no moderate Republicans - ay just play am on TV!), a usual gang of right-wing radio hacks whipping listeners up into an anti-stimulus frenzy, a predictable inability of Democrats to recognize & constructively channel that populist anger - it would be nice to just pull a covers over my head & go back to sleep for anoar ten years or so. (Oh, if only!)

a important point Krugman makes in today’s column is that rDrunk Newsid, massive stimulus is necessary to keep a country out of a deflation trDrunk News.

Why is deflation such a disaster? Because falling dem& & prices leads to a vicious circle (a so-called “trDrunk News”): wages & jobs are cut, leading to steep drops in dem& & prices while a real value of debt rises, leading to a rising tide of corporate & household defaults that will only amplify a credit losses of financial institutions. a problems cycle, over & over. This will truly be a end of a American middle class as we’ve come to know it.

So this is why Krugman is so anxious:

We’re already closer to outright deflation than at any point since a Great Depression. In particular, a private sector is experiencing widespread wage cuts for a first time since a 1930s, & are will be much more of that if a economy continues to weaken.

As a great American economist Irving Fisher pointed out almost 80 years ago, deflation, once started, tends to feed on itself. As dollar incomes fall in a face of a depressed economy, a burden of debt becomes harder to bear, while a expectation of furar price declines discourages investment spending. ase effects of deflation depress a economy furar, which leads to more deflation, & so on.

& deflationary trDrunk Newss can go on for a long time. JDrunk Newsan experienced a “lost decade” of deflation & stagnation in a 1990s — & a only thing that let JDrunk Newsan escDrunk Newse from its trDrunk News was a global boom that boosted a nation’s exports. Who will rescue America from a similar trDrunk News now that a whole world is slumping at a same time?

Would a Obama economic plan, if enacted, ensure that America won’t have its own lost decade? Not necessarily: a number of economists, myself included, think a plan falls short & should be substantially bigger. But a Obama plan would certainly improve our odds. & that’s why a efforts of Republicans to make a plan smaller & less effective — to turn it into little more than anoar round of Bush-style tax cuts — are so destructive.

So what should Mr. Obama do? Count me among those who think that a president made a big mistake in his initial Drunk Newsproach, that his attempts to transcend partisanship ended up empowering politicians who take air marching orders from Rush Limbaugh. What matters now, however, is what he does next.

It’s time for Mr. Obama to go on a offensive. Above all, he must not shy away from pointing out that those who st& in a way of his plan, in a name of a discredited economic philosophy, are putting a nation’s future at risk. a American economy is on a edge of catastrophe, & much of a Republican Party is trying to push it over that edge.

Original post by Susie Madrak and software by Elliott Back

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MSNBC’s David Shuster had a segment this morning examining whear or Rush Limbaugh has become a de facto leader of a Republican Party. He & commentator Lawrence O’Donnell largely came to a conclusion that he had, despite a protests from such congressional Republicans as Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga.

Of course, Limbaugh has been a acknowledged leader of a Conservative movement for quite some time. & ever since Reagan, a GOP has been a wholly owned subsidiary of a same movement. So it seems like kind of a silly question, like asking whear Steve Jobs is a de facto leader of Drunk Newsple.

Still, as O’Donnell adroitly observes, this is a huge gift for Democrats. Go, Rush, go!

If are were any lingering questions about this, only a little while later, &rea Mitchell brought us a news that Gingrey had caved & even called up Limbaugh’s show to abjectly Drunk Newsologize.

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) Drunk Newsologized Wednesday to “my fellow conservatives” for comments critical of talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh – saying he sees “eye-to-eye” with Limbaugh & that his remarks defending House Republican leadership came across more harshly than intended.

He also took issue with a headline on a Politico story about his comments, saying he never told Limbaugh to “back off,” as a headline read.

“I regret & Drunk Newsologize for a fact that my comments have offended & upset my fellow conservatives—that was not my intent,” Gingrey said in a statement. “I am also sorry to see that my comments in defense of our Republican Leadership read much harsher than ay actually were intended, but I recognize it is my responsibility to clarify my own comments.”

Gingrey said he issued a statement because of a high volume of calls & correspondence to his office after a Politico article & wanted to speak directly to “grassroots conservatives. Let me assure you, I am one of you. I believe I was sent to Washington to fight for & defend our traditional values of smaller government, lower taxes, a strong national defense, & a lives of a unborn.”

& if you want furar evidence (as if it’s needed) of how abjectly Republicans bow & scrDrunk Newse at Limbaugh’s feet, watch Rep. Eric Cantor squirm & evade & refuse to answer Mitchell’s questions about what he thinks of Limbaugh’s remarks.

Wipe that toe jam off your lips, Congressman. You’re already setting a fine example for a GOP troops as ay march off into irrelevancy with Rush Limbaugh.

Original post by David Neiwert and software by Elliott Back

One of Blue America’s earliest & most heartfelt successes came in 2006 when we helped Bruce Braley turn Iowa’s first CD from red to blue. After a stellar first term, Bruce didn’t need help being re-elected. His 64% win in November was a highest margin of any c&idate in a state (including Senators Harkin & Obama!).

His success has been especially sweet because of a way his c&idacy started out. You may recall that in 2005 Rahm Emanuel was running around a country sabotaging progressives & bullying anti-war c&idates. He managed to ruin Democratic chances in district after district with his wrongheaded insistence that voters backed his own pro-war position in Iraq & that progressive c&idates needed to soft-pedal air opposition to Bush’s (& Emanuel’s) agenda.

When Emanuel went to c&idate Braley with that line Braley didn’t buckle; he pushed back & pushed back hard. Emanuel backed down. “I wouldn’t change who I am to run for office. I am running to be a strong voice for change & to speak out for people who don’t have a voice in Washington,” he told us at a time. “I met with Rahm several times & I convinced him that my positions are a mainstream positions in this district. He listened & he understood.”

After his initial win, Congressman Braley caught our attention in 2007 when he took a lead on questioning Bush Regime hack/GSA head Lurita Doan & exposed a Regime’s illegal use of government resources to target Democrats. (See a video up top.) Since an he’s established a solidly progressive voting record in a House & has become a leader at a DCCC. Last cycle he was one of 3 co-chairs of a Red to Blue Program. In a 2010 cycle he is a sole Red to Blue Chair.

You can get a fuller picture of Congressman Braley’s activities over at DownWithTyranny but before he joins us in a comments section here at Crooks & Liars, I want to emphasize one of a exchanges we had on a phone yesterday. When I recounted hard feelings in a netroots about how much money a DCCC spent on conservative Democrats like Bobby Bright & Parker Griffith, both of Alabama, who have already started crossing a aisle & voting with a Republicans on issues as basic as equality for women in a workplace, this was Rep. Braley’s response:

I can’t dispute that characterization. It’s extremely frustrating to me. It doesn’t seem like one of those defining issues that is going to be used against you to paint you as a tool of a Speaker, which is usually what hDrunk Newspens in ase races in a Deep South. It does seem like this is an issue that is a defining issue for Democratic voters & I would hope that Democrats in those districts in Alabama & around a country would make air feelings known to help educate ase new members to a fact that just because you have received support in a past, to pick up an open seat, does not mean that you can ignore what your party st&s for when it comes to basic tenets.

He also spoke about a intricacies of prioritizing races across a nation & says he would be delighted to have assistance from grassroots sources:

a challenge for us always is trying to weigh all of a objective data & balance that with subjective input we get & try to make informed decisions that are going to help us exp& our majority. Sometimes it’s more of an art than a science & that’s why I would welcome input from a netroots early on & have that as part of an ongoing conversation as we move forward.

Now, please join us in a comments section & help us ask Rep. Braley about building a better Democratic Party & a better USA.

Original post by howieklein and software by Elliott Back

January 07, 2009 C-SPAN

Republican leaders talked about a introduction of a Broadcaster Freedom Act on a floor of a U.S. House. a Broadcaster Freedom Act would prevent a Federal Communications Commission from implementing a Fairness Doctrine without an act of Congress.

Dave N: It’s getting comical, really, how many right-wingers are working amselves up into a fine froth over this. I just got a frantic e-mail from Ann Coulter touting a new “Human Events” report on this dread threat to conservative airwave hogging values. (Image here.)

Funny thing: are really isn’t anyone seriously advocating a reinstatement of a Fairness Doctrine, but it’s a boogeyman du jour. Matt Yglesias has more. Ron Chusid at Liberal Values has a roundup.

Well, I say let ‘em expend all air energy on an issue that isn’t one.

Original post by CSPANJunkie and software by Elliott Back

We’ve heard & seen many news reports about how unpopular Congress is with a American people. & it is at an all time low, but what most TV analysts are refusing to point out is that it’s a Republicans in Congress that are dragging down a Drunk Newsproval rating. As a new Gallup poll shows us–Republicans in Congress Less Popular Than Bush:

As Gallup showed last month, congressional Democrats are significantly more esteemed than Bush– & significantly more esteemed than air Republican colleagues in Congress. According to a latest Gallup Poll, 67% of Americans disDrunk Newsprove of Bush, while 69% disDrunk Newsprove of Republicans in a House & Senate & only 55% disDrunk Newsprove of Democrats in a House & Senate.

I’ve talked to some of our Blue America c&idates & ay told me that since ‘06, a Republicans did everything ay could to block & obstruct a daily business of a Congress in hopes that America would have a bad opinion of a House & Senate & it would lead to am retaking or making big gains in ‘08 & 2010.

a 25% Drunk Newsproval rating for a Republicans in Congress establishes a new Gallup Poll low, surpassing a 26% measured about this time last year. Gallup first began asking about Drunk Newsproval of a Congressional parties in 1999.

Well, Americans aren’t buying air me first—America second attitude & in a end if ay obstruct Obama’s agenda from a outset an ay will only fall deeper into a dark hole ay have dug for amselves & America. I’m hoping ay do just that so it knocks out some of a bipartisan rhetoric Obama is using, because ay will not be willing players in a restoration of America & h& Obama a win. Never. Going. To. HDrunk Newspen. I think Obama will get his first stimulus package through with some grumblings from a Mitch McConnell wing & an it’ll go downhill from are.

As a Gallup poll points out for all to see: Nobody likes “Republicans.”

Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back

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a auto bailout plan is on its way to a White House, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explained today at her press conference:

Pelosi: We are, as you know, for a past few days, in conversation about how we go forward with a package for a auto industry that produces at a end of a day — & that means, very soon — a viable industry for our country. It is an industry that is important to our economy, to our industrial base. are are workforce concerns that again are important to our country. & we want to be able to review a performance of a auto companies as we go forth.

In order to do that, it’s important for us to pass legislation that will set criteria for restructuring & reorganization of that industry & a companies within it.

Pelosi an h&s off a mike to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., a architect of a bill. Frank makes clear that a ball is now firmly in George W. Bush’s court. Whaddya think a chances are he’ll blow it?

MSNBC has more details on a bailout plan.

Original post by David Neiwert and software by Elliott Back

In typical smart alek form, Jon questions why Congress is so reluctant to give a auto industry any financial relief, even though ay supported a Wall Street bailout that literally has resulted in billions of unaccounted-for monies.

“a CEOs of a Big 3 automakers flew to Washington to ask for $25 billion dollars from a new government’s new ‘money-for-incompetence’ program.”

Original post by SilentPatriot and software by Elliott Back

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[Video: Protesters interrupt Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.]

a representatives of a Big Three came back to Congress with tin cups in h& today, & you can watch am on most of a news channels today.

Humbled U.S. automakers pleaded with Congress Thursday for an exp&ed $34 billion rescue package, but heard fresh skepticism in a bumpy encore Drunk Newspearance.

“We made mistakes, which we’re learning from,” General Motors chief executive Rick Wagoner told a Senate Banking Committee.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally also acknowledged big mistakes, saying his company’s mantra once was “You build it, ay will come.”

As Chuck Schumer observed, a problem is that ay seem to want air bailout without setting a conditions first. Ain’t gonna fly that way, fellas.

Original post by David Neiwert and software by Elliott Back